page_title: United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement
section_title: Negotiations
hierarchical_section_title: United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement / Negotiations
caption_attribution_description: English: This image moves through the 3 phases of the trade deal, negotiation, reporting, and implementation. It traces the specific events within those groups and contextualizes some of those events with current progress in the USMCA ratification process.
context_page_description: The Agreement between the United States of America, the United Mexican States, and Canada, commonly known by its American English title United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement, is a free trade agreement concluded between Canada, Mexico, and the United States as a successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement. The agreement has been characterized as "NAFTA 2.0," or "New NAFTA," since many provisions from NAFTA were incorporated and its changes were seen as largely incremental. On July 1, 2020, the USMCA entered into force in all member states.
  The Agreement is the result of a 2017–2018 renegotiation between the member states of the North American Free Trade Agreement, which informally agreed to the terms of the new agreement on September 30, 2018 and formally on October 1. The USMCA was proposed by United States President Donald Trump and was signed by Trump, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on November 30, 2018, as a side event of the 2018 G20 Summit in Buenos Aires.
context_section_description: The formal negotiation process began on May 18, 2017, when the USTR notified Congress that he intended to renegotiate NAFTA starting in 90 days. In accordance with Trade Promotion Authority statutes, the USTR released its key negotiating objectives document on July 7, 2017. Negotiations began on August 16, 2017, and continued with eight formal rounds of talks until April 8, 2018. Lacking any resolution, Lighthizer stated on May 2, 2018, that if the end of the month reached no deal, negotiations would be halted until 2019. This statement was motivated by the pending change of government in Mexico, in which the then-incoming President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, disagreed with much of the negotiated language and might be unwilling to sign the deal.
  Separately, on May 11, 2018, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan set May 17 as a deadline for Congressional action. This deadline was disregarded and the deal with Mexico was not reached until August 27, 2018. At this time Canada had not agreed to the presented deal. Because Mexico's outgoing president, Enrique Peña Nieto, left office on December 1, 2018, and 60 days are required as a review period, the deadline for providing the agreed text was the end of September 30, 2018. which was reached precisely on September 30. Negotiators worked around the clock and completed the agreement less than an hour before midnight of that date on a draft text. The next day on October 1, 2018, the USMCA text was published as an agreed-to document.
  The agreed text of the agreement was signed by leaders of all three countries on November 30, 2018 as a side event to the 2018 G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The English, the Spanish and French versions will be equally authentic, and the agreement will take effect after ratification from all three states through the passage of enabling legislation.
  It was revealed in a memoir published by Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO and founder of American LBO specialist The Blackstone Group, that he had incited Justin Trudeau to concede the protected dairy market in the USMCA negotiations. According to Schwarzman, Trudeau feared that a recession would impact his government's prospects during the 2019 Canadian federal election. The executive, who had been retained by Trump, also was invited in January 2017 to address the Liberal Cabinet at a Calgary retreat when the Cabinet would be unprotected by its Privy Council Office civil servants. Then, as the negotiations reached their end come 1 October 2018, at a last-minute behind-the-scenes meeting at the United Nations in New York, Trudeau sacrificed the dairy industry to save the media industry and the automotive exemption. Chrystia Freeland, the Foreign Affairs minister from Trinity-Spadina riding in downtown Toronto whose constituents include many staff of the CBC and The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star and the Toronto Sun, maps "Canadian culture" directly onto the media industry. Robert Fife in an election cycle article failed to obtain any comment from other than the Liberal party.
  Fox News reported on December 9, 2019, that negotiators from the three countries reached an agreement on enforcement, paving the way for a final deal within 24 hours and ratification by all three parties before the end of the year. Mexico has agreed to the enforcement of a minimum wage of US$16/hour for Mexican automotive workers by a "neutral" third party. Mexico, which imports all of its aluminum, has also expressed opposition to provisions regarding American steel and aluminum contents in automobile components.
caption: A visualization of the timeline for the USMCA ratification process in the US, as prescribed by Trade Promotion Authority
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